A review of published studies shows that depressive disorders are correlated with specific defense patterns which may underlie particular personality trials. High comorbidity among depressive and personality conditions is a consistent but not well-understood finding.

We assessed the relations between defense mechanisms and MMPI-2 profiles used by depressive patients.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how depressive disorders are related to the use of specific defenses and how it is corelated with particular MMPI-2 scales.

Authors examinated a sample of 50 adult outpatients aged 21 to 55 diagnosed with depressive disorders according to DSM-IV. The Bond Defense Style Questionnaire (DSQ) was used to assess defense styles. Patients were also examined with MMPI-2.

Depressive disorder patients scored higher for the immature defense styles. Increased scores in psychopatological scales in MMPI-2 were positively related to the immature, neurotic and particular narcistic, and negatively to the mature defense mechanisms.

These findings suggest that interpretation of defense styles and particular MMPI-2 scales is useful for the psychological and personological diagnosis to direct psychological assistance. These findings could lead to the development of specific psychotherapeutic interventions.

We aimed to study HMGB1, pro- and antioxidant status alongside with T cells phenotype and Th1 and Th17 proinflammatory cytokine profiles in depressed patient. We also investigated the glucocorticoid response.

Blood was collected from patients diagnosed with recurrent depressive disorder (rDD) (N = 15) and from healthy controls (N = 19). We measuredplasma hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and reduced glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as well as SOD1, GPx, GR activities in red blood cells. HO1 and NOX4 levels in plasma were also assayed. IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IFN-g, TNF-a, IL-17, HMGB1, neopterin and cortisol were analyzed in sera. Further, we examined surface phenotype expression of T regulatory and T effector cells with flow cytometer. The glucocorticoid response was measured by dexamethasone-induced inhibition of IL-6 produced by LPS-stimulated peripheral blood.

We observed pro- and antioxidant imbalance in depressed patients expressed by significant changes in the enzyme activities, increased MDA, decreased GSH, increased H2O2. Shifted Th1/Th17 cytokine ratios, increased Treg/Teffector cells ratio and increased levels of neopterin were also detected. Moreover, we revealed a distinct role of HMGB1 in maintaining cytokine and Treg/Teffector cells balance in depressed patients. HMGB1 remained also in relation with oxidant potential of the blood. The important role of IL-17 and inhibitory effect of MDA on glucocorticoids response was also revealed.

Strong immunomodulatory role of HMGB1 might be related to the change of its activity caused by redox imbalance in depressed patients. The shifted immune balance alongside with prooxidative environment modulates glucocorticoid response in these patients.

Paraphrenia was one of the last great inventions of classical psychiatry. Both the French school as the German school, have strongly discussed and tracked this clinical entity which is an intermediate form between paranoia and schizophrenia. First originally by Kahlbaum and then described by Kraepelin, the term will fall into oblivion after the appearance of the manual diagnosis DSM III, which will be listed under concepts so various as schizophrenia or delusional disorder chronic.

Presenting a case report of paraphrenia, we discuss around its nosography classification, its clinical presentation, its evolutionary process and possible differential diagnoses.

We ask ourselves whether current standardized textbooks, it is still possible to observe this rich clinical entity.

To describe the epidemiology and clinical care of the emergency department by use of licit and illicit drugs in 2001 and 2011. Compare if there was a change in profile over the past 10 years.

Epidemiological descriptive study. We analyzed 1982 medical records in 2001 and 2465 in 2011. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee.

Regarding sex, remained unchanged; the male is responsible for most of the medical care. Regarding age, there was no change over the last ten years, being individuals between 20-39 years old the highest rate of attendance. As the etiologic profile, there has been a change over the last 10 years. In 2001 the diagnosis of ICD-10-F10 (Mental and behavioral disorders due to use of alcohol) was predominant. In 2011 the ICD-10 and ICD-10-F19 (mental disorder and behavior due to multiple drug use and use of other psychoactive substances). As for the number of attendances, in 2001 there was a large concentration in the first quarter, while in 2011 it was better distributed throughout the year. There was an increase in the number of visits in 2011 compared to 2001.

We believe educational and preventive actions are necessary to minimize the increase in drug use. It is also necessary to have measures to reduce damage.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a rare but severe psychiatric disorder with important individual, family and societal consequences. Its prevalence is approximately 2 per 10.000 in the general population and the incidence of COS increases with age.

The main objective of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of COS in French medical-social institutions or psychiatric day hospitals for children and adolescents in the PACA region. The secondary objectives were:

1. (1) to estimate the prevalence of children with both COS and autism diagnosis,

2. (2) to characterize clinical and neurocognitive presentation of COS using the evaluation of intensity of positive and negative symptoms (PANSS, SANS), of thought disorganization (TLC), of cognitive functioning, and of attention and executive functions (verbal fluency, TMT A, TMT B).

Subjects were patients from medical-social and psychiatric care centers for children and adolescents in three PACA sub-regions in the south-east of France. The study included French speaking girls and boys between 7 and 18 years old, registered in a partner structure of the study, and presenting an IQ > 35 (WISC-IV). The study design was constituted by two phases: the first one was the categorical diagnostic phase using the psychosis section of the Kiddie-SADS Present and Lifetime Version. The second phase consisted of the dimensional COS diagnosis and neurocognitive exploration for the subjects fulfilling the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.

The diagnosis of COS was not exceptional in this population. Most subjects diagnosed with COS also presented autism diagnosis and mental retardation.

Knowledge on the brain mechanisms of psychopathology is extremely important for successful treatment of patients. Depression is a group of disorders with varied origins and complex and yet unclear neurobiology.

Depressed patients show attentional bias to emotional (especially negative) stimuli. Automatic (implicit) emotional processing in such patients may differ compared to non-depressed controls.

We aimed at studying the EEG-correlates of implicit learning with emotional stimuli in patients with depression.

128-channel EEG was recorded in healthy volunteers (12 female and 7 male) and depressed patients (12 female and 7 male), while they performed categorization of pictures as human or animal photographs. Half of the photographs were neutral and half were showing aggressive people or animals. The pictures were preceded by the cue (simple abstract pattern, one for each picture category), which meaning was not explained to the participants. We analyzed visual response to the cue and the CNV recorded during the picture anticipation period (duration was 2s).

All participants reported that they did not notice cue-picture association. Unlike the healthy controls, our patients showed strong CNV differences in the right anterior area: larger negativity for the emotional face condition versus the neutral faces.

Although our participants were contingency unaware, the cue-picture association was established in our patient group: certain simple neutral pattern was associated with neutral or emotional (aversive) faces, eliciting different CNV during real face anticipation. This may underlie the impairment in depressed patients leading to their fixation on negative emotions.

The concept of person is connected to personality and self-transcendence belongs to its structure, as core component. The assessment of self-transcendence as part of human personality opens the gate of self-awareness in personology. Robert Cloninger is a distinctive researcher because he states that the comprehensive assessment of the human being includes the moral-spiritual dimension which implies deep self-awareness, in the absence of which subjective well-being is not possible.

Thus, in Cloninger's view self-transcendence is a character dimension. Self-transcendent individuals are often described as un-demanding, fulfilled, enduring, creative, altruistic, spiritualized. High self-transcendence has adaptive advantages when the individuals deals with suffering and death, which are inevitable once the person grows older.

131 patients with personality disorder aged 19 to 62 were included in the study. Temperament and Character Inventory; Multicultural Quality of Life Index (J. Mezzich et all, 2000).

The assessment of the relationship between the scores in personality dimensions and the quality of life.

Significant correlations were ascertained between the character dimension Self-transcendence and the Multicultural Quality of Life Index. Thus, according to this correlation analysis, (r2 = 0,035) of the variation of the score on the Multicultural Quality of Life Index is given by variations of the Self-Transcendence score.

The assessment of the self-transcendence dimension as part of human personality opens the doors of knowledge in personology.

Human personality directly influences scores in quality of life scales through character dimensions.

Burnout syndrome is a response to prolonged occupational stress that involves three main dimensions: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. There are few studies on burnout doctors in Brazil.

To describe the prevalence of burnout syndrome among intensive care physicians in Salvador, Brazil, and analyze it for associations with demographic data and aspects of their working conditions (psychological demands and control over tasks).

This was a cross-sectional study investigating associations between psychosocial aspects of work and professional burnout in a population of 297 intensive care physicians in Salvador. A self-administered individual questionnaire was used to collect data on psychosocial features of work using the demand-control model (Job Content Questionnaire) and on the mental health of the physicians using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).

An elevated level of working hours overload and on-call work overload was observed. The prevalence of professional burnout was 7.4% and was more strongly associated with the psychological demands of work than with intensive care physician's control over that work.

Physicians doing highly demanding work (many demands and little control) suffered 10.2 times more burnout than those with undemanding work (few demands and a high degree of control).

Non-specific chronic low back pain is one of common causes of disability and a recurrent medical complaint with high costs. From rehabilitative medicine, physiotherapy programs and general postural recommendations are offered. Although this treatment is aimed to reduce disability, severity of pain and anxiety-depressive symptoms, many patients report partial improvements and recurrence of pain. Therefore, a new approach to treat this pathology with a broaden focus on psychososocial issues that might modulate pain and its evolution is required.

To assess the effectiveness of two complementary interventions to physiotherapy, such as relaxation techniques (specifically, sophrology) and cognitive behavioral intervention. It is hypothesized that intervention groups will significantly improve their adherence to physiotherapy and will gain control over their pain. Ultimately, this will foster better quality of life.

Longitudinal design with pre-post intervention measures and follow-up appointments (at 6 and 12 months) carried out in a sample of 66 participants. The sample will be divided into three groups: control (physiotherapy), intervention group 1 (physiotherapy & sophrology) and intervention group 2 (physiotherapy & cognitive behavioral intervention). In all groups biomedical aspects regarding type, evolution and characterization of pain as well as several psychosocial factors will be assessed.

Preliminary results are expected by December 2013.

If hypotheses are confirmed, we will be able to provide empirical evidences to justify a multidisciplinary care model for chronic low back pain, which will favor a significant cost reduction in terms of health care and human suffering.

Determination of macro-and microelements disbalance in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) provides us with opportunity to understand the etiology and pathogenesis.

We performed research on the macro-and microelement status of 65 children with ASD and their parents. We investigated 130 samples of hair (65 children: 18 girls and 47 boys and 65 parents).

The purpose of this study was to identify and determine the nature of the disbalance of macro-and microelements of children with ASD in Belarus.

As a biological substrate we used hair. For carrying out researches using a laser multi-atomic emission spectrometer LSS-1.

Diselementose on aluminum in 35.4% of the children and their parents 33.85%. Calcium in children found in 100% a deficiency. Iron content occurred in 50.8% children, and in 65% parents. In 26.1% children and parents 13% had a deficiency. 23.1% children and 18.5% parents had diselementose towards above norma. Copper content found in 87.7%, a deficiency in children and parents. Excess of the level occurred in 4.6% among parents and 7.7% among children. In 55.3% children have zinc deficiency. Reduction of zinc was noted and the parents in 44.6%. Exceeding concentration of zinc was noted in 7.7% in children and in 10.8% among parents.

Diselementose had children with ASD and parents. Given that the change in the content of copper and zinc is an indirect marker of the exchange protein metallothionein suggests violation of the content of this protein, which is alleged etiopathogenetic factor for ASD.

Paliperidone extended-release (ER) is an atypical antipsychotic that presents the active metabolite of risperidone (9-hydroxyrisperidone) using OROS® technology [1]. Multinational placebo-controlled studies have shown paliperidone ER 3- 15 mg/day to be both efficacious and safe, with discontinuation rates due to adverse events (AEs) similar to placebo [2].

Seventy-eight female patients who were diagnosed as schizophrenia according to DSM-IV-TR and who were started on the treatments of risperidone or paliperidone included to present study. The serum prolactine levels were measured before and after 5 weeks of treatment.

The 35 of patients were treated with paliperidone, while 43 patients were given oral risperidone treatment. The increases in serum prolactine levels were significant in both groups (p≤0.001), however the increase was much more in paliperidone group. Furthermore, discontinuation rates due to indirect effects of prolactine increase such as galactorrhea, amenorrhea were higher in paliperidone group compared with risperidone group.

Beside the efficacy and well tolerability of paliperidone extended-release, the increase of prolactine level and associated side effects should be carefully assessed during treatment specifically in young women patients.

Paraoxonase (PON), an enzyme, is a key process in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.

We aim to investigate the variations of PON1 activity in Tunisian bipolar I patients treated with thymoregulators.

Our study included 78 patients with bipolar I disorder, diagnosed according to the DSM-IV, and 64 controls aged 35.97±11.55 years and 36,31±18.26 years respectively. 41 patients were treated by valproic acid, 16 under carbamazepine and 21 under lithium. PON1 activity was determined by kinetic methods using Konelab 30 equipment.

Compared to controls, patients treated by thymoregulators had a significantly lower paraoxonase activity (p=0.004). Furthermore, PON1 was significantly correlated with c-HDL values (r=0.5612; P< 0.001). The lowest PON1 levels were noted in patients treated with lithium (150±94UI/L) and the highest levels were showed in those under carbamazepine (260±185UI/L), but this difference was not significant. In patients under lithium, we showed that this parameter was significantly lower when illness duration was more than 12 years, the lithium posology exceeds 1000 mg/day and the lithium plasmatic concentrations were more than 0.54 mmol/L. However, there was no significant difference among gender, age, cigarette smoking and alcoholic beverage.

Bipolar patients had a significant decrease in PON1 activity that contributes to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. This perturbation could be related to treatment with thymoregulators and particularly lithium. Therefore, such patients should require specific care and clinics should track the effects of treatment on physical and biological parameters, and should facilitate access to appropriate medical care.

Schizophrenia requires a large share of medical resources due to its early onset and chronic and severe nature. Compliance therapy is a therapy specifically designed to improve concordance with treatment for those with major mental illnesses. The aim of present study was to determine whether compliance therapy improves drug adherence and consequently makes better global functioning and improves quality of life in schizophrenic patients.

This randomized controlled clinical trial study was done in Noor hospital in 2008-2009. Patients were randomly assigned to receive the intervention consisting of 8 sessions of compliance therapy, or the control treatment consisting of an equal number of sessions of supportive counseling. All patients were evaluated by Heinrichs Quality of Life scale, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale, and Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) at baseline, third month and sixth month follow-up after intervention.

76 schizophrenic patients who met criteria of study were enrolled in the trial. Our data showed a significant main effect for interaction of group and time for GAF scale, Heinrichs Quality of Life scale and PANSS.

The findings of our study showed that compliance therapy can improve not only global functioning but also quality of life in schizophrenic patients. In addition, PNASS was improved during the six months follow up in compliance therapy group.

Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) may be an important factor in pathogenesis of schizophrenia due to its role in neurodevelopmental processes: myelination, neurotransmitter receptor expression and synaptic plasticity. NRG1 has been also implied to play role in cognitive impairments, which are considered to be endophenotypes of schizophrenia, i.e. subclinical, heritable and independent of clinical state traits associated with genetic susceptibility. Surprisingly, a recent meta-analysis (Dickinson, 2007) demonstrated that reliable and easy to administer Digit Symbol Coding Task (DSCT) discriminate people with schizophrenia from comparison individuals better than the more widely studied neuropsychological instruments.

The study was carried out to investigate the association of a polymorphisms of the NRG1 gene (rs62510682) and schizophrenia with respect to performance on DSCT.

We included 103 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria and 578 controls in our study. The patients were evaluated for lifetime psychotic symptomatology using the Operational Criteria for Psychotic Illness (OPCRIT) checklist. DSCT was administered to 80 patients.

The polymorphisms were in HWE both in the cases’ and controls’ groups. In single marker analysis, we did not find an association for the SNP tested. However; we have found that T allel carriers (TT and/or GT genotype) performed worse than G allel carriers (p=0.4) suggesting weaker cognitive processing efficiency.

Our data do not support the role of the NRG1 gene polymorphism (rs62510682) in the predisposition to schizophrenia; however, the studied SNP might be considered to be a risk factor for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

The HCV has been associated with significant impairment of quality of life, irrespective of the degree of liver injury. The association of this disease with psychiatric comorbidities, especially depression, has been well described in the scientific literature. However, despite also significantly affect the quality of life of individuals, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has not been well studied in this population.

Evaluate whether individuals perceive the liver disease as a potentially traumatic experience and investigate the impact of PTSD diagnosis on health-related quality of life in hepatitis C virus-infected subjects.

We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 127 consecutive hepatitis C-infected outpatients. We investigated Traumatic Experiences and the subject's perception about the disease using the Trauma History Questionnaire. PTSD and others psychiatry diagnoses were assessed trough M.I.N.I. PLUS. Quality of life was assessed by the Short-Form 36.

Approximately 38.6% of the patients perceived the hepatitis C as a traumatic experience, 60.7% had PTSD diagnosis. It were no associate with the disease severity (been eligible for transplant), however there was a significant association with diagnosis of PTSD (p = 0.003). Roughly 22% of the sample showed PTSD diagnosis. PTSD imposed a significant impairment in quality of life of individuals in seven of the eight domains in the bivariate and multivariate analysis. This difference remained significant after adjustment for covariates such as major depressive disorder comorbidity.

The results suggest high prevalence of PTSD diagnosis in VHC infected patients and it impose impairment in their quality of life.

The clinical syndromes related to fronto-temporal lobar degeneration are the second most common cause of pre-senile primary dementia. There are three distinct clinical variants: behavioral-variant fronto-temporal dementia (BvFTD), semantic dementia and progressive non-fluent aphasia. BvFTD is characterized by a significant change in the patients personality and social behavior, and impaired executive function.

Review the current literature on both the pharmacologic and nonphar- macologic management of fronto-temporal dementia.

Brief literature review.

Case report and literature review.

We describe case of a 65-years-old male with hyperactivity, desinhibition, aggressive, stereotyped and persevering behaviors with continuous walking and changes in eating habits (hyperphagia). He also presented distractibility, poor speech with loss of spontaneity, an indifferent attitude, mental rigidity, inflexibility, and lack of insight for his condition. This condition developed within one year, with a change in his personality and the appearance of an inadequate social conduct, with an insidious onset and gradual progression. He has family history of dementia. Computerized Tomography scan shows lobar fronto-temporal atrophy. During hospitalization no drugs has had effect, apart from paroxetine (partial response).

Concerning therapy, several drugs were used without proved effect in controlling the symptoms, highlighting the difficulty in the psychopharmacological approach of this disorder. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have shown some effect on behavior.